Obama gives America a black eye

Since when did it become fashionable to use foreign landmarks for the purposes of campaigning in U.S. Elections? Since when did it become acceptable to put foreign governments in a state of security risk all for the purposes of trying to appear internationally astute?

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Barack Obama's latest bomb is shameful to say the least. Disrupting Berlin and giving a useless campaign speech at the Victory Column is not only disappointing, its also unnecessary.

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What exactly does a structure built in 1864 to commemorate Prussia's victory over Denmark have to do with anything regarding this campaign or American foreign policy?

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Is Obama going to make ground breaking news about German-Danish relations? A relevant comment to today's military situation in Iraq? Does he intend to use this backdrop to criticize US foreign policy (a clear no-no in that American diplomats are never to criticize the US Government's actions abroad). Who exactly does Obama think he is?

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It's one thing to hold a laughable resume with little experience, and its another to travel to foriegn lands and pretend to be a knowledgeable diplomat.

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This whole experience seemed to have put the German government in an awkward state. Obviously he has no business making a speech within their borders (its purely photo-op) and he insisted on doing this anyway despite German misgivings about the need and nature of the speech. It's embarrassing to the point that they nearly had to relent so as not to seem biased. But the fact remains that he has no business speaking in foreign capitals or using foreign cities as a backdrop for his campaign.

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How self-centered. How ignorant. How opportunistic.

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What's next? Tower of London? The Eifel Tower? The Catherdral? The Leaning Tower of Pisa? Any place else you can get a good photo op?

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Just another black eye for America - our Presidential candidates now deem foreign landmarks and cities as exceptable territory to campaign from. Obama is pathetic, and so are his 300 or so advisers that should have told him that the whistle stop tour of his should have started in Maine and ended in San Francisco.

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Just another reason to not vote for Obama. And some of you think George Bush is embarrassing. This guy hasn't even been elected and he's already pissing off foreign heads of state.

Another year...

When birthday's come and go, its not like the old days.

I'm lucky that my older daughter was born a few digits ahead of me in the July calendar. My birthday is sort of forgotten in the shuffle which I suppose is just as well.

The best present of all is seeing the little ones happy. The best present I can give them is our ability to make sure their birthdays are enjoyable. I'm not a needy person, and I don't care about the Joneses, but I do care that my kids are clean, properly dressed and positioned to have a great youth full of fond memories. This is why I work. If I were alone, I'd be on a sailboat drinking beer all the time not worrying about anything except the tide calendar and the weather.


But back to the main point, I think a key thing these days is making sure that my daughter and her younger sister understand that none of what they have received should be taken for granted, nor should it be simply expected. Material things are long forgotten - there are few presents that I distinctly remember as a kid - its the memories that remain.


Again, I really dislike my birthday. I dislike the weeks before and after. But I'm happy for my daughters' birthdays. Their anniversaries should be celebrated with all of the pageantry and glee possible.

Hull City theme and withdrawals...

Yeah, yeah, I know its only June. But I'm having English Premier League withdrawals. I can't help myself.

If anyone knows anything about the official "drink" of Hull City... please share that information via comment.

1940 german Reichsender broadcast/1940 Reichsender Sendung

Amazing history captured. Note the old time radios and quality of the sound. What's amazing is that United States, British and even German broadcasts still exist for preservation of history. Truly amazing.